Almost magical
by SlytherinElektra
Summary: Ariadne is convinced that bad is going to happen... to Arthur. And she's determined to stop it.
1. Tick tick tick

It was a very dark room. Her eyes weren't accostumed to that darkness yet, so she put her hands in front of her to feel the walls and their limits. It was bad enough not knowing where she was, but the worst thing was that rythmical sound that was driving her crazy.

Tick

tick

tick

Too loud to be a clock, she couldn't quite place what could be making that noise. She walked and walked, but couldn't find the ending of the room. It was like an unending corridor, dark and wet. There were only two small windows, but it was a night woith no moon and the light was very scarce.

Tick

tick

tick

She didn't know where she was, or what was she doing there. And somewhere, something was ticking. She realized she was holding a gun on her hands, what only increased her anxiety. She saw the shadow of another room, and went there.

Tick

tick

tick

"Hello? Is anybody in here?"

Suddenly, she heard shots, coming her way. Instinctively, she ducked and put her hands on her head, to portect herself. She tried to remember what was she doing there, and how did she arrived there... but couldn't. She heard some footsteps behind her, and her breathing quickened. She started thinking on an effective way to protect herself, gun at the ready, when she heard a soft voice.

"Ariadne? Are you all right?"

She turned her face and saw that familiar face. Arthur. It calmed her somewhat, Arthur was the kind of guy who always knew what to do. But it was a bit confusing, too. Was she on a job? Where was the rest of the people then?

"Arthur! What is this place?"

"You don't remember?" he asked "Well, that's not important, the important thing right now is to get out of here. Follow me, I'll find us a way out."

I did follow him. I was happy to see Arthur. I hadn't seen him since the last job, and his presence was always reassuring. There he was, perfectly aware of everything that was going on, moving with that quiet elegance of his.

Suddenly, more shots came on their direction. Ariadne tried to return some of them, but she only hit the walls. This was getting bad, if they continued like that they would never get out. When the shots stopped Ariadne started walking forward, but Arthur wouldn't move.

"Run as fast you can, Ariadne. Get out."

Oh-oh. That didn't sound good.

"Arthur?"

But he didn't answer, he just fell to his knees. Ariadne turned around to face him and saw a terrible sight. Her friend's shirt was blossoming red, and he had a hand clutched to his stomach. Blood was pooling under him as he had also been hit on a leg.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..."

"Please, Ariadne, you have to leave." He said, drowning his screams of pain as best as he could. "You have to leave."

Ariadne decided to take control of the situation and took Arthur's face with his hands. Her scared eyes met his, and the pain on them scared her even more. But it was time to be in charge.

"I'm not leaving you, Arthur. We're getting out of here, and I will take you to a hospital, and you'll be ok, don't worry..."

But the young man's eyes closed and he collapsed and fell to the ground. Ariadne shook him and called his name, but he was still unresponsive.

Tick

tick

tick

And her hands were full of blood.

tick

tick

tick

Arthur was dying right in front of her.

In a small appartment in somewhere Paris, Ariadne woke up screaming.

A/N: What did you think? I know it's not a great start, but it will get better! Ijust felt the need to do an Inception fanfic...And don't worry, even if the main characters are Arthur and Ariadne, some others will appear too. Please excuse my spelling/grammar mistakes (English is not my first language) and tell me what you think! You know you want review!


	2. Nightmare come true

The images of her nightmare were engraved in her mind. The always impeccable Arthur was half-sited half-collapsed there bloody, pain filling his eyes and telling her to save herself. He had been there to help her, no doubt. And that was what had made him vulnerable, what took him down.

She decided to discard those thoughts, after all it had been only a dream and it was over now. Probably it was just her mind realizing how dangerous the job had been and fearing the dangers of another one.

But in that case what was Arthur doing there?

Well, it didn't matter. She'd just had to move on with her life, go to the university, chat with her friends, the kind of things she did pre-nightmare. She wished she didn't remember her dream as vividly as she did, but it was of no importance now. It was over now.

Except it wasn't.

_Same corridor, same shooters, same small windows. Same feeling of confusion. Footsteps, she could hear footsteps now approaching her. But Arthur ended up the same way . Shot in the stomach and shot in one leg._

"_You have to leave" Arthur said, managing to compose himself. "It'll be harder for them to follow us if we split. Don't worry about me, I've been worse. You just run, get out."_

_Tick_

_Tick_

_Tick_

"_I'm not going to leave you here, bleeding out . Arthur?"_

_But Arthur wasn't hearing her anymore, and soon he collapsed on to Ariadne. Her eyes filled with tears._

And Ariadne woke up again.

Four nights in a row she had the same dream, it was getting very hard to ignore. She woke up tired and grumpy every day, and people were starting to notice.

"Something keeping you up at night, chérie?" asked her roommate, Michelle.

"Yes…kind of. I keep having the same nightmare every night and it's really disturbing. In my dream, I'm in some strange deserted corridor and people are shooting at me. I get scared, and suddenly this guy from the job appears and tries to protect me, but he gets shot and I see him dying every night. And I can't think about anything to save him, because I'm too fucking scared."

"This guy in your dreams, did you like him?"

Ariadne thought about it for a moment. What was not to like?

"Yeah, sure, he guided me and taught me a lot of things. Always nice, always kind."

" You told me that mysterious job thing was dangerous, right? Maybe you remembered him somehow and are subconsciously worried that something bad might have happened to him in another job."

It was reasonable and logic, but Ariadne had been too tired to figure it out. And now she remembered having read an article on the Arthurian legend. Arthurian. Of course.

"You know what, 'chelle, you may be right. That means that if I make sure that Arthur is all right the nightmares will stop. Yay. Thanks a lot, 'Chelle."

Ariadne finished her coffee, took her bag and declared before going out of the door:

" And now I leave, in a journey to recover my peaceful, peaceful nights."

"Just tell me one more thing, chérie, maybe the most important thing of all: This Arthur guy, was he hot?"

Ariadne just giggled and left.

The next step was getting in touch with Arthur, which wasn't going to be an easy. It was already difficult to get in touch with an extractor, but how did you get in touch with a quiet point man? It wasn't the kind of people who you could google or had a public Facebook page. And to top it, she didn't know what his last name was, or where he lived.

But Cobb probably knew, and luckily for her, his father-in-law worked in the university she visited every day. Miles kindly complied and gave Cobb's number, although he seemed a bit worried. It was understandable knowing what had happened to her daughter and what almost happened to Cobb. It was clear as day that this job put a heavy weight on one's sanity. However, his expression changed when Ariadne mentioned that it was actually Arthur she wanted to contact.

"He's very nice young man, Arthur. He's worked with Cobb for quite a long time and I never seen him falter. Unfortunately, I've never seen him smile much, either. Send him my regards." Miles said with a smile, handing Ariadne a piece of paper with Cobb's number.

"Thank you very much, professor."

Cobb answered very quickly and chatted with her for a while. Ariadne was glad to hear him so relaxed and happy, after the terrible moments he had lived during the Fischer job. She even spoke to one of the kids for a little while, when he stole the phone from his daddy. It was clearly a good change, both for Cobb and the kids.

Cobb was also happy that someone was asking for Arthur, because he hadn't seen him much lately and he too was becoming a bit concerned about him. But coincidentally, a couple of days earlier Cobb had heard that the Point Man was staying in Paris for a while, apparently after the jobs that some French entrepreneurs were offering. He gave Ariadne a cell phone, but told her to stop by his place if she had time, because he knew that he probably spent too much time by himself.

"And if you could get him to have some fun…"

"I'm an architect, Cobb, not a miracle-worker." She said, funny, but decided that she'd probably stop by anyway.

Arthur's place was on a residential neighborhood not far from the Eiffel Tower. It was an old stone building that had only four floors and had its own doorman.

" 3ème ètage" She indicated, and the doorman escorted her to the elevator and pushed the button of the third floor. While she was on the elevator, Ariadne thought that she should probably had thought of an excuse to visit the point man. _I wanted to see you because you've been dying in my dreams all week _sounded a bit too blunt. She'd just tell him that Cobb had told her he was in town and she decided to check on him. And that was true, even if it wasn't the main reason for her presence.

There she was. She could hear music inside the flat, which meant that he was probably home. She rang the buzzer and when she saw him, she took an involuntary step backward, shocked. There he was, with a hand clutched to his stomach and a pained expression.

"Ariadne?"

She took her totem and then, relieved, answered.

"Arthur, hey! Long time no see! Cobb told me you were in Paris and I thought I could, you know, pay you a visit. Are… are you okay? "

Arthur seemed genuinely surprised.

" Yes, yes, I think I have one of those stomach viruses, but it's nothing important. Please, come in!"

And Ariadne entered the luxurious flat the young man. It was decorated with taste, simple but elegant furniture, some paintings on the walls, and lots and lots of books everywhere. Ariadne noticed that there weren't any photos on the enormous living room. Not a single picture of him with a relative or friend. Just books, a small laptop and the music player. But when the song subsided, the young architect freaked out.

Tick

Tick

Tick

"Arthur, what is that noise?"

tick

tick

tick

"I think it's from the second floor. It's really annoying, specially at night. Please, take a seat. So, how have you been, Ariadne?"

"Not bad, not bad…"

Everything was starting to be exactly like in her dream. The ticking, the pained expression, the…

"How rude of me… I haven't offered you anything to drink. Do you want a tea or a coffee?"

"A coffee would be great, thanks."

Ariadne tried to calm herself. She was supposed to be there to get rid of her dream and now she felt like she was living it. Everything seemed to be coming true… but maybe she was being too paranoid. It was just her imagination and the sleep deprivation. A sudden noise on the kitchen stopped her thoughts.

"Damn!"

The architect ran into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I dropped some glasses and it's gotten a bit messy… Ariadne?"

She froze. Her nightmare was definitely coming true. There he was, with blood splattered all over his leg and in his hands, cuts everywhere. Putting herself together, she took a cloth and knelt in front of him.

"Here, let me help you."

"I'm sorry about all this, really. I'll understand if you leave."

Tick

Tick

Tick

"Don't worry about me, I've been worse."

Tick

Tick

Tick

Footsteps were approaching them, and Ariadne understood what she had to do. She didn't know why she knew, she didn't know how could it be related to her dreams… But for the first time, she knew how to save Arthur.

"Arthur, we have to leave!"

"What?"

"Now! Take the stairs!"

And just as they hurriedly left the elegant building, the first shots were heard in the third floor.

The two fugitives silently went to the underground, disappearing from the enemy's view. As composed as he had been while the fled, Arthur had a lost a lot of blood and was slowly losing his firm posture. Finally (and very much despite himself) he passed out, and his head fell limp on Ariadne's shoulder.

And while she heard the metallic sound of the underground and felt the soft touch of Arthur's head on her shoulder, she realized that the dreams had only been the beginning.

A/N: I know…it's awfully long…but I just didn't know where to break it! So…did you like it? Hate it? Is it interesting? Please, tell me what you think! And thaaaank you to those who already did! Next chapter will feature major angst and a appearance of Mr. Eames. You know you want to review!


	3. The watchmaker

Arthur splashed water on his face, trying to compose himself. It had been a crappy week. He'd been throwing up everything he ate, and the last two days he'd been so sick he couldn't even get up without getting dizzy. And being sick by oneself sucked very much. Just when things were starting to get better (he was starting to feel better and Ariadne -Ariadne!- had come to visit him) he had to run off from unknown shooters. And they had seen Ariadne with him, wich meant she was also in danger, and all because of him. A very crappy week indeed.

Standing in Ariadne's appartment's bathroom he noticed his hands were shaking, like they did everytime he was sick. Sequels of a childhood sickness, that he was proud of having succesfully hid to almost everyone. No wonder he had dropped those glasses. He started to think about what was he going to tell Ariadne when he got out (a polite way of walking out so Ariadne didn't get into further trouble) when his stomach started complaining again. He was a terrible mess. Maybe he should call somebody to help him. But it was his problem, and he had to do it as fast as possible, without dragging anyone else into it.

Ariadne was making some tea in the tiny kitchen of the appartment, and Arthur approached her quietly before saying:

"Ariadne, I'm sorry but I think I have to leave. I need to find out who those men were. Thank you for everything, for stopping by and for warning me... By the way, how did you know?"

She blushed slightly, shy about telling him that she'd seen him in her dreams.

"It's a long story... But where are you going to go? You don't look so good."

"I'll just book some hotel room and start a research, make some phone calls..." Arthur said tiredly, leaning on the kitchen counter.

"Don't you think that that rooms on expensive hotels are probably the first place they'll check?" She asked, concerned.

"There are many hotels here, and I'll try to get a room in the outskirts and just..."

Arthur's speech was suddenly interrupted by a cool hand in his forehead.

"Arthur, you're burning up. There's no way you can face those guys by yourself like this. If you're going somewhere, I'll go with you."

"But..."

"No buts. And I think it would be safer if we stayed here, it's a appartment for students in the middle of nowhere. Just have some dinner and some sleep, and tomorrow you'll be able to do things better. I'll start calling people for you if you want, you tell me who they are, OK? I want to help you, Arthur, let me."

Arthur just looked at her and gave her a heart-warming smile.

"Thank you."

She started preparing dinner, but by the time she finished doing it Arthur was already asleep on Michelle's room. She had dinner by herself and left a note for her roomate, so she didn't go to the room where Arthur, and telling her to take Ariadne's room for the night. She also sent a short text to the number she had of Cobb and Eames, just in case they were around and could help: _Someone´s after Arthur. We're in Paris, and could really use your help. Ariadne.""_

She then had a shower and decided to go to sleep, too. She was tired but she was scared of her dreams. Scared that in the next dream she'd see him die once again and that she'd be unable to do anything. She knew it was silly to feel so attached to someone she'd only known some months ago, but she did. And she'd promised Michelle her room that night, so she couldn't go there. Almost without thinking about it, she curled behind Arthur and fell sleep listening to the sound of his breathing.

She didn't have nightmares that night.

Tick

Tick

Tick

It was the next day, when she awoke, that she found herself in one.

Tick

Tick

Tick

Ariadne couldn't quite place how much time it had passed, it could've been hours, it could've been days. But she knew that she was no longer curled next to Arthur in Michelle's bed. She opened her eyes. She was tied up to an old metal chair, and in an unfamiliar place. One thing was familiar, though. The ticking. But in this case, it was not a single clock, but hundreds of them, all covering the walls and the ceiling of the room she was kept in. It was a maddening noise, all those clocks ticking together.

"Beatiful, aren't they?" said a voice from behind her. "I make them."

The voice stood now in front of Ariadne. It was a man, who had big bright blue eyes and was in his late thirties. He had a gun in his hand and a look of superiority. He continued speaking.

"Well, I use to, before my wife taught me the joys of meddling in people's dreams. It's a very interesting job, isn't it? But you see, I have a problem. I do have a nice reputation, you may even have heard about me, (Im the watchmaker) but I'm stuck. Do you know why? Because there are those who have asked me Inception, and I can't do it. I fail. And I hate to fail, because it destroys all the hard work I've done these years. So you are going to tell me everything I want to know about it, OK?"

"I'll tell you everything you want to know if you let her go." said Arthur's voice from the other side. Ariadne shivered. She really wanted to escape but she couldn't handle the thought of leaving Arthur alone with that psycho.

"But you won't say a word until she's gone, right? And when she is, you'll probably won't say a word. Very honourable, sacrificing yourself to save her... but it won't be that easy. Even if she escaped I've got men all over the city with orders of getting both of you. You are Arthur, right? I tried to get the information from you for days, even bought the the second floor of your building to get to you, but your mind is nothing but a bunch of fevered deliriums and blurred spaces. You'll be no good." The man said, and got away from him.

"But what about the lady? Will she be willing to talk? I tried extraction with you too, when I learned that you had been part of the team, but you have some sort of recurrent dream that keeps blocking me out. So, little miss, I will ask you some questions and you'll answer them, ok?"

"Don't say anything." said Arthur with all the strength he could muster.

"Of course she won't, not without a motivation" said the watchmaker "Let's give her one."

He shot Arthur on the side. Ariadne screamed, and tears started falling down her cheeks. She didn't know what to do, what move should she make to save herself and Arthur.

This couldn't be happening!

"So now, missy, are you gonna talk, or should I hole dear Arthur a bit more?"

Ariadne knew telling this madman what he wanted to know wouldn't solve anything, but she couldn't stand seeing him hurt Arthur anymore.

"I..."

They were all so concentrated in their struggles that they hear someone entering. Someone pointing his gun at the watchmaker's head. Someone who said, in a smooth voice and with a thick british accent:

"Drop the gun this instant."

Eames had arrived.

A/N: And what will happen now? Will Eames save our heroes? Will Arthur pull through? That, you'll know in the next chapter (probably). But about this chapter... Did you like it? Hate it? Ariadne's dreams will be explained later, don't worry! Pleeeeeeease tell what you think! You know you want to review!


	4. 23 Boulevard de Suchet

"Drop the gun this instant"

Eames said and the watchmaker complied.

"OK...so you had a friend of yours outside, huh? Very clever. He hears something off, he runs to save you. What I don't understand is how my men didn't spot him..." the man said, trying to sound calm but with panic in hi eyes. This was certainly not a part of his plan.

"Those baboons were happy to let me in when I told'em I was here to stop you." Eames answered "Apparently, they think you're a madman. And by the looks of this place, it seems they are right. Now, pal, if you let me and my friends go right now, I won't have to fire my gun a single time. So, allow me... "

But the watchmaker took the gun and started firing it in Eames' direction. Luckily, the forger ran and found shelter behind a giant wooden clock.

"You don't wanna anger me, pal." said Eames. This guy loved to talk, it was his weakness. Well, let's leave him talking.

"Oh yeah, then let me tell you that your anger can't compare with..."

Eames chose that moment to reappear from behind the clock and fire to the wall just behind the man's head.

"That's warning number one. Let's us go, madman."

"Never."

Choosing to ignore the man, Eames approached Ariadne to untie her. When the watchmaker pointed his gun at him he just fired, hitting the man on his shoulder. The watchmaker screamed in pain, and dropped his weapon on the floor.

"That was warning number two." continued Eames, picking up the gun, just in case "I suppose you don't want me to get to number three, right?"

"You'll pay for this" shouted the man "all of you!"

While the watchmaker rambled about vengeance, Eames untied a very shaken Ariadne.

"You Ok?" asked Eames when she finally stood. Ariadne was feeling many things in that moment, and none of them were OK.

"I will be." she answered "but Arthur's bad."

Eames could see that. The point man was passed out on the other chair and had a nasty bulletwound on his side. His white shirt was stained with blood and he was as white as a snowflake. He cursed himself for arriving so late.

"Arthur, wake up."

Both Ariadne and Eames tried to wake up Arthur so he'd walk to Eames' car, but to no avail. He was completely out of it. Eames noticed with despair that Arthur was burning up, too. Not knowing what else to do, he took the point man in his arms.

"Open the door" he asked an amazed Ariadne "I'll guide you to my car."

Eames' car was a brownish grey old thing. As soon as they were there, Eames and Ariadne placed the unconscious Arthur on the backseat, and got out of there. They heard some shots in their direction, but they were already too far to get hit.

When they entered Paris' busy traffic, Ariadne let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Close call, huh?" asked Eames, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, that almost ended in tragedy. How did you find us?" Ariadne asked.

"A friend of mine, form the business, called me to tell me that some psycho named the Watchmaker was targeting everyone on Inception and that he was a very big fish. So, when I got your text, I knew you'd be in trouble and decided to come get the psycho myself."

"Thank god you did."

"I almost didn't make it." the forger continued "This guy has people everywhere in this damned city. The trains, the hospitals, the cafés...They almost got me when I was in Champs Elysées trying to go see a movie! They're probably in the freaking Eiffel tower, too!"

Ariadne sighed. Two days ago she'd been worried about class schedules and about if she should get a TV for the appartment and now she was being chased by an army. And there was Arthur, too. She looked at him and the sole sight made her eyes watery. He seemed to be getting paler by the moment (with some traces of blue around his eyes and lips) and the stain of blood seemed to be getting bigger. His only hope was a hospital, and they couldn't go there, or the watchmaker's men would catch them.

She sighed again.

After a while, she realized she didn't know where they were going and asked the driver.

"Well, since this guys have all the exits covered I figured I had to lay low on the city for a couple days if I came, so I started looking for a safe house. This friend of mine I told you about, she has a place near Roland Garros, in the south eastern corner of the city, and she's spoken with her doorman so he'll let us in. She tells me the neighbourghood it's mainly inhabited by peaceful old french people, so it's probaly one of the best places in which we could hide. They can find us there, of course, but..."

Ariadne HAD to interrupt the brit.

"Thank you." she said "Thank you so much for everything, Eames, I don't know what we would have done without your help."

"Anytime, dear, for you, anytime."

After a little while they arrived at the street. It was a long street with lots of trees and big old fashioned houses. The only people who were there were riding a bike or walking the dog. No suspicious suited guys whatsoever. They arrived at the door of the building -this time both Ariadne and Eames were holding Arthur- and rang the buzzer.

"Ici 23 Boulevard de Suchet, qui est là?" said the doorman's deep voice.

"We're friends of Miss Kincaid." answered Eames.

"Bien sûr." The door opened instantly.

After this, the doorman came out and helped them to Eames' friend's place. It was a very spacious appartment appartment with six rooms and seemed to be decorated by some musician, with CD's and pentagrams everywhere.

Arthur was laying in the biggest bed of the house and was growing restless. When Eames was out to get whatever medical supplies that were in that house, he opened his eyes slowly, but steadily. Ariadne smiled, relieved to be seeing signs of life, and approached him:

"Hey... how are you feeling?"

"Ariadne...you have a chance... to escape...Just take it, don't worry about me. I'll manage."

Just like in her dream. Only in her dreams Arthur never looked this bad, this... defeated.

"No way, Arthur, we're going to save you, and everything is going to be fine, ok? No one's leaving you. I will stay by your side whether you want me to or not."

He looked at her, and for a moment his eyes seemed less troubled. But then he winced in pain, reminding her how damaged he was.

"It hurts, Ariadne. It hurts really bad."

Ariadne could feel the tears burning in her cheeks. She wished there was some magical way in which they could fix him. She wished he could wake up and be all right. But no. The would have to hurt him even more to get that bullet out.

It was going to be a very long night.

A/N: Like it? Hate it? Plaese, please, please tell me! I know it's been a while, but the story still exists! The places mentioned exist, I'm living in Paris now (Erasmus year) and the neighbourhood it's mentioned -where I live- is very peaceful indeed. Hope you liked it! Please tell what you like or didn't like!You know you want to review!


	5. Fever dreams

The blood, the screams... it was like a horror movie, or a very bad dream.

Ariadne and Eames had been trying to patch up Arthur as best as they could. It proved to be a very difficult job, since he had a bullet dug deeply in a very delicate zone. And his immune system was already low, fighting a viral infection he had. Any doctor would have marveled at Arthur's resistance, knowing that most people would have already been unconscious or worse in a situation like that.

But Ariadne couldn't think like that, because then she'd most certainly break down. She had to think that everything was going to be all right, that from that moment, everything would start getting better. That Arthur would get better. He had to.

Eames' expertise on the medical field was acceptable, but he wasn't a master of it. And he was not delicate, he had never been. Other times, he hadn't care a certain someone had an extra amount of pain when he was patching them up (they should be glad he knew how to do it) but this time was different. Arthur's situation was critical, and his unrefined technique was putting more strain on an already overstrained body.

"Done!" said victoriously the brit when he finally got the bullet out.

Ariadne, who had been holding the point man so he wouldn't move around, smiled, too. It was a tiny smile. but it was a start. The two of them carefully dressed the wound after desinfecting it, and then they put some bandages. They were quite proud of the work they had done when they realized Arthur had gone completely unconscious, which was not a good thing. The deeper the sleep, the harder it would be for him to get out of it. The stories of people who fell into a coma and never woke up came to Ariadne's head, and she shivered.

Just when one problem seemed to be solving, another one appeared.

Knowing there wasn't much more they could do, Ariadne went to shower and Eames went to the phone to make some calls. After the shower Ariadne decided to change her clothes (hers were stained with Arthur's blood) and went to the wardrobe.

Her eyes went inadvertently to a beautiful purple dress she saw. Then she remembered it was a useless to look pretty for an unconscious man. Even if Arthur woke up he'd be in too much pain to notice what she wearing. She mentally slapped herself. Was this the time to play dress up? Was this the moment to think about...? She stopped herself. This was definitely not the time to think about that. She put on a simple but soft black pyjamas and decided to get a coffee and try to clear her head.

She chatted a bit with Eames in the kitchen, while they were having coffee. Nothing too serious, they just talked about whatever happenned to the people on the inception job, and remembered its highlights. Sometimes Ariadne wished she was on that plane again, ready to jump into action. And it was nice having someone to talk about it.

After coffee, they went to check up on Arthur again.

"His fever's getting higher. We'll need something stronger than what we have here to bring it down... I'll go call in a couple of favours with a contact I have here and get us some meds." Eames said.

"You're going out again? Isn't it dangerous?"

"Trust me, if there was another choice I'd take it. But my contact doesn't like to move from his safe zone and plus, the less people who know about this place the better, right?"

"Right." Ariadne nodded "But be very careful, ok? And come back as soon as you can."

"Don't worry, dear, I'll be back in no time. You just continue taking care of our wounded soldier, ok?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that."

And with that Eames was gone. It made her a bit anxious, not having her saviour there, not having someone to talk to. Ariadne tried to entertain herself, read a book, something. But she couldn't focus on anything. Her mind was too full of words, of thoughts, of feelings. She looked at Arthur, lying in the gigantic bed. He was pale as the sheets, but he looked like a sleeping angel.

Ariadne wished she could block all those stupid thoughts. The important thing now was to get him better. Something that didn't seem to be happening soon. When the point man started tossing and turning and moaning Ariadne checked his temperature again. 105,2 - damn. Knowing that she had to do something to break that fever and that there was no time to wait for Eames' meds she decided to do something more drastic.

After getting him to stand (which hadn't been easy at all) Ariadne guided and half-carried Arthur to the bathroom. She prepared him a very cold bath, something that was supposed to be good in extreme cases. It was a beautiful wooden big jacuzzi and one could even sit inside. Carefully, she undressed Arthur, leaving him in his underwear only, and guided him to the jacuzzi. Knowing it would probaly be a bad experience for the point man, she took off her pyjamas and jumped in with him.

Ariadne sat next to Arthur, and placed his head in her shoulder, just like that time on the subway. Boy, was he hot. In both senses. They stayed like that a couple of minutes, in silence, when Ariadne heard something being wishpered:

"Thank you" said Arthur, in an almost inaudible tone "...for being here."

"It's my pleasure." Ariadne said.

Eames had arrived to his appointment early but he had expected someone to be there. When he had seen his contact an hour ago he seemed very cooperative. Mr Dubois owed him a series of favours, and he'd said he would be there with the medication the sooner he could. He was the director of one of the plants of a Hospital nearby. Hôpital Sainte-Whatever. The important thing was that he had access to the meds, and that he was in Paris.

Eames should've known something like that happening without incidents was too good too happen.

Then he saw, in front of him, the good Mr Dubois followed by a guy with a gun.

"Good to see you again, pal."

The watchmaker.

Arthur was in the huge bed again, after the bath. Ariadne had kept the word she'd given to Eames and took care of him. Now only time would tell if he'd be ok again. She entered the bed and lay behind him. She decided she really liked it there, going to sleep next to Arthur.

"A girl can get used to this, you know." she said to no one particular.

Ariadne tried not to think of the hundreds of thugs going of after them. She didn't want to think in what could happen if they found that place. She simply lay there and went back to sleep.

Back to nightmares.

A/N: I know, odd chapter. Did you like it? Any thoughts about it or the story in general? I'm sorry if it's getting too romance-ish! Anyways, please tell me something. If people don't review I'll get that people are not interested in the story...snif...Hope you enjoyed the chapter! You know you want to review!


	6. Nightmare is over

It was a very cold night in Paris and Eames began wondering how he could take advantage of it, and if he could. He needed a plan, and fast. He held the watchmaker's gaze while he schemed. The first thing of all was to get Mr Dubois out of the picture. The man was in danger every second he was there and it was just another reason for Eames to worry. The watchmaker was a pretty decent crime leader, but he had very obvious weak points: he was too vain, too proud. Eames decided he would attack him there.

"I've got to say, I'm disappointed. I thought you'd had the guts to confront me by yourself. Obviously, I expected too much of you."

The other tried to maintain his cool, but it was clear that he was getting angry. And his anger didn't need a trigger, it was always there. Insuslts only magnified it. Porvoking him was not a good idea, most certainly not.

Eames continued.

"Clearly, you didn't think you could defeat all alone and needed something to stop me. Maybe you're smarter than I thought. But it does look a bit pathetic, doesn't it?"

"You shut up!" the watchmaker said.

"Such a pity... I really thought I was facing a man here. Seems I was wrong."

"You want a little old-fashioned duel thing, fine. You go, get the hell out of here!"

Mr Dubois knew ran and left. The watchmaker knew he'd done exactly what the brit wanted him to do, but he was unable to stomach all those aggressions to his ego. No problem. If that stupid english douche wanted to end this with him alone, that's what he'd have. And he would feel the whole extent of his wrath. No one insulted his manhood and got away with it. And this stupid had really pissed him off. And shot him. "_It's not going to be pretty_" thought the watchmaker, before saying:

"Game's on, pal."

In the other corner of the city, Arthur and Ariadne slept. While the first one had a horribly vivid fever-dream, the girl next to him continued her journey through a oh-so-familiar place. A place that had been with her for the last week, a sordid deserted place. A place of death. A place of nightmares.

It seemed more cold and deserted than ever, and her hands were shaking badly. It was dark, and the floor was somehow wet. Water, mud, she didn't care. All she knew was that she was looking for somebody, and that she had to find them fast. She turned around the corner and saw an unpleasant sight. The person she was looking for.

Arthur was laying lifelessly against the wall, completely white except for the crimsom stains in his stonach and leg. Blood was also dripping from his mouth all the way down to his chin. Ariadne hurriedly checked his pulse. It didn't sound great, but it was there. Suddenly, she noticed something she hadn't noticed before. A first aid kit next to Arthur's feet.

Without a moment to be suspicious, Ariadne took it and started going through it. But she was too nervous and cold, and she started dropping things.

"Calm down, dear." said a feminine voice behind her. Ariadne looked back, surprised. It was a big brunnette woman wearing black clothes.

"What?" Ariadne asked, trying to figure out the woman's presence.

"You're dreaming, remember? There's no need to rush things, he's going to be all right."

Ariadne eyed her suspiciously and started preparing the things she needed to clean Arthur's wounds, while her mind kept thinking. Who was that woman? If they were really in a dream, how did she know? And even more important, what was she doing there?

"What are you doing here?"

"Right now, I'm helping." the mystery woman said, checking Arthur's eyes with a tiny flashlight. "We'll to have to work a bit on him. The bullet in the leg went straight through, but we're going to have to take the other out ourselves."

_That explained nothing, _Ariadne thought.

"I've been here before, Ariadne and I know what happens in the end. But it's not set in stone. We can turn it around, save him."

Ok, now she knew her name and the details of the dream. It was a getting a bit scary. Even so, the idea of saving Arthur this time seduced her and she decided to let things run its course. She had been helpful so far.

"Why would you want to help?" asked Ariadne.

"It's my job. I'm a cleaner, hired by the Cahill family." she said, while she disinfected some thongs.

"A cleaner?"

" I clean Nicholas' messes. He is the man you know as the watchmaker. The police are closing on him, following him, and his father hired me to erase evidence, mainly, minimize the consequences of his acts and that sort of thing. I solve problems. I try to avoid people getting killed by his hands, literally clean blood when it's spilt... Quite a nasty job, but the paycheck is amazing."

Ariadne and odd the cleaner woman took out the bullet from Arthur's stomach. Maybe it was her imagination, but he seemed to be looking better. She really didn't know what to think about the newest appearance. Was that a projection to help her close the dream or was she really working next to a mob lady-for-the-dirty-stuff?

Truth was she'd done a good job with Arthur's wounds (clean, quick) and the situation seemed to be turning around. The injured point hadn't stirred a single bit since she had found him and just lay there, limp. But she couldn't worry about that, too.

_"_"I'm sorry, but I still can't understand what exactly you're doing here." Ariadne said, because her head was swimming with thoughts.

"Well, after seeing how things turned out, I decided to come by and leave some meds, so the point man wouldn't die because of Nicholas' shot. I saw you both sleeping and curiosity got the best of me, and I came to see if your dream was still the same, or if you've moved on to a sunny beach or something."

"How did you know about my dream?" The architect asked, while she dressed in a very careful way Arthur's newly disinfected wound.

"I tried to warn you, when Nicholas started getting in your heads. I couldn't go to you directly, because then his men would report that they've seen me and he'd know his father was watching him, and that would make him really mad. So I tried to warn you in dreams, but I didn't know how. Inception is always been way out of my league. I was never a very good extractor, but it made me get this job, since I could clean the mental messes Nicholas made."

The cleaner continued her story, while she gently wiped the blood off the point man's hands and face.

"Then, out of the blue, you dreamed that the guy we were targeting was in danger, and suddenly all my problems were solved. It was almost as if you know what was going to happen, almost premonitory, almost... magical. The only thing I had to do was out a loud clock in every corner, so you'd identify the sound with the danger. Et voilà! that way you were able to escape before Nicholas' men shot you dead in this young man's appartment."

"That makes some sense... but how did I know that you were going after Arthur?"

"I'm telling you, girl, it was magic."

In that exact moment, Arthur eyes started to open.

Ariadne smiled and hugged the man she had watch dying so many times. She didn't even notice when the other woman left. Se was just so happy. It was the end, and Arthur was going to be okay. Finally. She hugged him, and hugged, and hugged him.

Moments later, she woke up with a smile.

She was in the huge bed in the hideplace, next to Arthur. She saw a PASIV sprawled in the floor, and next to it the bag of medicines the cleaner had promised. Feeling cheery and relaxed for the first time a in a long while, Ariadne caressed Arthur's face and kissed his burning forehead.

"Everything will get better from now on, I promise."

The watchmaker had tried all directions, all times and places but none of his shots seemed to reach that britshman. And he continued teasing him, no matter if Nicholas had asked him to shut up shouting in a volume that could wake up half Paris. It was starting to tire him out.

He decided to rest for a moment to clear his head and get his strength renewed. His father was so not going to like this. And all the stores, the men, the hideouts...were his father's. He had no real power. He shouldn't make father angry. But damn it, he didn't like failing! When going to reach the gun he'd left beside him he noticed it was missing. Not a good thing. Suddenly, Eames was towering over him, gun in his hand. The forger gave the other man a simple but efficient blow to the head and said:

"Playtime's over, pal."

Inmensely proud of himself, he tied the psycho up and left him in the door of a police station. He felt like spider-man or Batman, or something like that. Eames-man. He liked it. When he arrived to the hideout, fearful that he could been facing the mourning of a dear friend, he found a very chatty Ariadne and an exhausted yet alive Arthur.

The night hadn't ended so badly after all.

A few days later, still in the hideout fearing some king of payback from the watchmaker's men, Eames, Ariadne and Arthur rceived a visit. At first they stayed in silence, so the visitant would leave but then Ariadne saw who it was.

"The woman in my dream! The cleaner!"

They let her in, and she smiled seeing Ariadne so happy.

"We already know each other, dear Ariadne, but I have to introduce myself to these gentlemen. I'm the cleaner and I speak on behalf on Mr. Thomas Cahill, who is very sorry about the problems his son has caused you. He trusts Nicholas learns a lesson in jail, and assures you no man hired by Cahill Ltd. will come after you. Mr. Cahill has already sent a compensation to your accounts and hopes this incident doesn't damage any potential professional relationship."

"And we sure thank the man for giving us our freedom back!" said Eames.

"Nightmare's over, guys. Take care." And with this the cleaner left the house.

So, that was the last night they would spend in that big appartment before going back to their lives. It felt odd, like the end of an era. And even if there was nothing to worry about, Ariadne couldn't sleep. Something was missing.

She got up, knowing exactly want was wrong. Being alone was wrong. She had slept next to Arthur all those nights, and now she wouldn't have it any other way. She went to his room and saw that the ligh was out, but that his eyes were still open.

"Arthur?" she said, hoping the darkness would conceal her blush "do you mind if I sleep next to you tonight? I don't feel like sleeping alone."

"You were there all the time..." the point man realized. "I thought I was dreaming. Please, come in."

Ariadne crawled shyly under the sheets and made herself comfortable behind Arthur. Suddenly, he turned and kissed her softly in the lips.

"Sweet dreams, Ariadne."

For the second time that week, Ariadne felt she was living her dream.

Only this time it wasn't a nightmare.

It was a dream come true.

THE END.

A/N: Ok, that was the end. Yes, the cleaner's character is slightly based in Pulp Fiction's Mr. Wolf. Badass people that work with gangsters. So, what do you tink of the story as a whole? Feel free to comment! You know you want to review!


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